Everything is getting big on Dakota grain farms, even the buildings. Vaughn and Vance Zacharias, Kathryn, N.D., put up one of the new hybrid Morton Buildings. The building is called a “hybrid” because it combines steel trusses with wood post frame construction. With the pre-engineered steel trusses it’s possible to create a clear span of 150 feet and a vaulted ceiling, which allows for taller doors. But the superior insulating, strength and esthetics of the post frame…

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Ron and Curt Sylte, of Williston, N.D., have what may be the world’s biggest sprayer. Last year, they had Sprayflex Sprayers, of Detroit Lakes, Minn. (www.sprayflexsprayer.com, 701-360-3544) build them a sprayer from an International 7600 tandem axle truck. The sprayer has a 3,150-gallon stainless steel tank and a 150-foot wide boom. Ron, who does most of the spraying while Curt plants, says covers 600 acres in 4-5 hours in one fill with the most of the products they apply. At…

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I was disappointed that the driverless tractor being built in Fargo didn’t make it to the field demos at Big Iron on Tuesday last week. Software didn’t get finished, explained one of the Autonomous Tractor Corporation reps. I was looking forward to seeing how the revolutionary “no driver” tractor would perform in the field. The developer told me earlier this year that it would it would follow another tractor. If you were disking a field, you could hook another disk to…

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I saw several intriguing new products at the recent Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa. One was Versatile’s new combine, the RT490 - a 490 hp Class VIII self propelled combine. It’s manufactured in Russia by Versatile’s parent company and assembled in Versatile’s plant in Winnipeg, Canada. The combine isn’t actually new. It’s one of the best-selling combines in Europe and Russia. Versatile thinks North America farmers will be interested in it, too…

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How many tractors does it take to plant? You’d usually say one, of course. But in parts of the Dakotas this year it’s taking one tractor to pull the planter and another tractor, or perhaps even two tractors, to pull the planter tractor when it gets stuck. Pull tractors have been needed a lot in the fall with combines and sugarbeet lifters, but not so much in the spring. Every year is different, I guess, and this one will be one for the record books. What…

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Just got back from the Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa. All the new equipment and technology on display was mind-blowing. But so were the prices. As I worked my sector of the show, gathering new product information for features that we’ll run in the Dakota Farmer and its sister publications later this year, I kept writing down the “K” figure -- $180K for $180,000, for example. More than once I had to ask if I heard the price correctly -- was it 6K or $60K, $25K or…

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Top clue that you are in the Red River Valley for a farm show -- a new Dyna Flo flood pump is on display at the entrance. This pto driven pump can move 3,000 gallons of water per minute and lift it 15 feet high with ease. That would come in handy this spring if you had to move a lot of water from behind a ring dike or over a road. Another dead giveaway that you're in the Red River Valley -- Simplot is serving french fries, waffle fries, wedge-cut fries and potato olays from its booth, and…

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Where does Bobcat get all its ideas for the attachments?   The company already makes about 70 tools to use with a Bobcat – everything from post hole augers to road graders.   Most of the ideas come from customers. You can also submit ideas through its Web site. They get two or three submissions are a week.   One of the latest ones: A log cutter.   The tool grips a 10-foot long log in a grapple-like vise as a chainsaw on an arm chops the wood into even lengths and awl splits the log…

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It laid off welders and machinists and scheduled temporary shutdowns of its manufacturing plants this summer, but there’s no slowdown in product development at Bobcat.   The Fargo, N.D., company introduced the new M Series loaders recently. The four models -- the S630 and S650 skid-steer loader and the T630 and T650 compact track loaders – have bigger, more comfortable cabs; better visibility and more hydraulic power and are easier to maintain than any other loader on the market, according to…

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